Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 24 Elul, 5783

Less than one week until 5784!  This week’s parsha Ha’Azinu which literally means “Listen.”  This week is going from Mastery to flow.  We have spent the year working on Mastery; physical, spiritual, emotional.  Now it’s time to flow. And then balance the mastery and flow in these spaces.

The song Moses begins in this parsha is what we are called to remember when we enter into the promised land.  The momentum is shifting from survival in the wilderness to living free in the promised land.

I encourage you to read the commentary I wrote a year ago – it breaks down the portion line by line!

My commentary from a year ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 7 Tishri, 5783

Today we are through the first quarter of the month. We start the second to last Parsha today! We are almost through this cycle together! What a year!

Today we start Ha’Azinu – which literally means “Listen.” This is the song that Moses and Joshua were told about in last week’s Parsha. This is an important Parsha as we journey into the promised land. This song is designed to continue to keep us focused on who got us here.

The Chumash I’m reading has this as spiritual thoughts for us heading into the Parsha:

“Listen (ha’azinu), O heavens … Let the earth hear!” In your preoccupation with matters of the earth, do not forget the heavens.”

We are called to balance our earthly responsibilities with our focus on the spiritual.

Let’s dig in!

For this week’s Parsha, because of its importance, I’m going to post the actual words in the translation I’m reading from. This will make things a little longer, but given the critical nature of the passages, I feel compelled to share it:

Todays portion is Deuteronomy 32:1-6:

(32:1) Listen. O heavens (and be my witness), for I will speak! let the earth hear (and Witness) the (following) words of my mouth!

A lot has been written about this. Rabbi Simchah Bunem Sofer writes:

Man’s body and soul each seem to have an excellent pretext to excuse themselves from judgment. The body can say, “Since my soul departed I am like a stone in the grave unable to sin,” shifting the blame to the soul; and the soul can say, “since I have departed from the body I am like a bird flying in the wind, shifting the blame to the body.

But the argument is easily refuted with a parable. A king once stationed two people to guard his beautiful orchard, one lame and the other blind. The lame one said to the blind one, “I see delicious figs in the orchard. Mount me on your shoulders and we will reach the figs together and eat them.” And that is what they did.

When the owner of the orchard noticed the missing figs he confronted the guards, but they each excused themselves–the lame one claiming that he could not have possibly walked to the figs, and the blind one saying that he could not have seen them. So the king mounted lame one on top of the blind one and judged them together (Babylonian Talmud)

In the opening line of our Torah portion, “heavens” refers to the soul, and “earth” corresponds to the body, Moses addressed both the body and soul together, for the rebuke of one without other would be meaningless.

Rabbi Schneerson adds this:

Moses was “close to the heavens,” so he told them to “listen”-a term which suggests a closeness between speaker and listener. But since he was “ distant from the earth,” he told it to “hear.” From afar (Sifrei).

You have a “spark” of Moses within your soul, which enables you to attain, to some small extent, the spiritual greatness of Moses. So it is relevant to you-sometimes, at least-to appreciate that spiritual matters are more important than physical things, to be “close to the heavens and distant from the earth.”

How is it possible for an ordinary person, who lives a normal, bodily existence, to feel “close to the heavens and distant from the earth”? And are we not taught that the ultimate purpose of creation is to be found here on earth by making a “home for God, below” (Midrash Tanchuma)? What is to be gained, then, from feeling “distant from the earth”?

The soul is literally a part of God, So the feeling of being “close to the heavens” is not something that needs to be acquired, but merely uncovered. In some way, it is relatively easy and natural for you to feel “close to the heavens and distant from the earth,” because your soul, which sustains your very life, is truly “distant from the earth.”

But nevertheless, after being born into a body; you are firmly rooted in this world too, enabling you to bring your natural affinity with the heavens down to the earth- making “a home for God below” (end quote)

I’m just reflecting on this beginning of the song – the first thing we get out of the gate is a balance. The balance between the spiritual and the physical. We need to be lofty and ambitious spiritually – but remain grounded and rooted in this earth. That’s not an easy task, and requires a lot of energy and thought. If we are going to be free and liberated, this is crucial for us.

I know for me, I struggle sometimes wanting to shed my physicality and live a fully spiritual life – but that is not going to sustain us over the long haul. I need to care for the physical too.

Ok. Let’s keep going:

(32:2) “Let my (Torah) teaching drip like rain (and give life to the world). Let my words flow like dew. Like storm winds (that bring rain) on vegetation (to make them grow), and like raindrops on grass.

Rabbi Shneur Zalman writes:

In the Song of Ha’azinu, Torah is described as both “rain” and “dew.” Physically, rain and dew are both sources of nourishment, but the causes which bring them about differ. Rain is formed from water which is lost to the atmosphere as vapor from the earth, and then precipitates back- as the verse states: “(God caused) a mist to ascend from the earth (moistening the clouds in order to) soak the entire surface of the ground” (Genesis 26). Dew, by contrast, “never ceases” (Babylonian Talmud) and appears spontaneously, regardless of the amount of water which is being evaporated from the earth.

Rain represents the influx of Divine revelation which is bestowed in direct response to man’s efforts (on earth). Dew, on the other hand, alludes to what God bestows unconditionally, disproportionately to man’s efforts.

So, since “rain” and “dew” in this verse both refer to Torah, it follows that “rain” represents the parts of Torah which are dependent on human mastery–namely, the extensive legal discussions of the Torah. The comparatively effortless “dew” alludes to the mystical parts of the Torah which transcend the limitation of the human mind, since they “flow” directly from their Divine source, as the verse states, “Let my words flow like dew.” (End quote)

Wow. After thinking about the balance of who we are as both physical and spiritual beings, we are now seeing the balance of Hashem as being both something we need to work at AND something that flows naturally.

The word that keeps coming to mind is “harmony.” How do we live in both of these realities? How do we develop these parts of who we are?

I almost imagine a matrix with four quadrants:

One dimension is Spiritual and Physical.

The other dimension is Mastery and Flow.

The quadrants would be:

Spiritual Mastery

Spiritual Flow

Physical Mastery

Physical Flow

Thinking about this in our own internal lives, this provides an interesting self-assessment to where we may need to spend our energy? Are we trying to Master the Physical with most of our energy right now? Maybe it’s time to let things flow.

I also am reflecting on an additional dimension- emotional.

There is Emotional Mastery and Emotional Flow.

Ok. Let’s keep going!

(32:3-6) When I call out (and mention) the name of God, (respond and) ascribe greatness to our God. (Though He is powerful, like a) rock. His acts (of retribution) are perfect(ly balanced), for all His ways are just. God is faithful (to reward his righteous ones, He even rewards the wicked) without injustice. (All acknowledge that) He is righteous and upright (in judgment).

Corruption (is theirs), not His! It is His children’s defect, a crooked and twisted generation! Is this how you repay God, you disgraceful, unwise people? Is He not your Father, your Master? He has made you (a special nation), and established you (to be self-sufficient).

The Kabbalah writes about “a crooked and twisted generation” the following:

“A crooked and twisted generation.”

Here Moses hints to the secret of reincarnation.

If a person is “crooked” and sinful in his lifetime he must be reincarnated (“twisted”) into another generation.”

An interesting thought on our journey.

And that is our first portion. What are your thoughts? Where are you at Physically, Spiritually, Emotionally? Are you spending energy in mastery or flow? Are you in balance and harmony there, or are you out of balance? Something to reflect on as we prepare for Yom Kippur this week!